Beginning Braces

Tuesday, September 06, 2005 at 11:14 AM

Yet another consult

I've been meaning to post for a while, bur for whatever reason, I never got around to it.

I did finally get in for a second consultation with a orthodontist close by.

The ortho's clinical findings:
- Lower jaw is too short
- Distance from nose to chin appears long
- Lower teeth are behind the upper teeth. Upper teeth are tipped forward.
- Lower teeth bite into the roof of the mouth
- Lower fron teeth are too far behind upper front teeth
- Upper front teeth are spaced
- Space between upper front teeth is 3mm
- Overjet measures 10mm
- Lower jaw appears asymmetric to the left
- Attrition to upper incisors

Now, I have to choose an orthodontist. I'm torn.

I really liked the office, and the staff. I like the fact it's considerably closer to home - running in to get a wire clipped, for instance, will not be a problem.

A lot of things were similar to the first office I visited - general treatment plan, cost, financing.

The one thing I wasn't impressed with overall was the ortho's chairside manner. He was very... abrubt. Very clinical, and he did not seem overly sympathetic. I was almost in tears, mainly because he didn't seem to think he could do all that much without surgery, and he didn't seem to understand why I wouldn't want it. (The patient cordinator did, however, and repeatedly told me it would always be my choice, and that I would still see huge results regardless of my treatment plan).

So... decision time.

I chose the second orthodontist. I'm still not sure that was the right decision, but I think it's worth it, for the convinience factor alone. Add that to the fact that I'll probably only see the actual orthodontist for a grand total of 10 minutes over the whole treatment, and that they use the faster self-ligatating 3M Smart Clips. Plus, I was able to schedule records for next week... err, that would be tomorrow.

I'll let y'all know how that goes. But that's the deciding factor - I'm not about to spend $450 for records & xrays and NOT go through with this.

New school year, new things, right?